The Mường country south of the Đà (Black River) above the delta: later tradition names four great mường, Bi (Tân Lạc), Vang (Lạc Sơn), Thàng (Cao Phong) and Động (Kim Bôi), each a bowl of terraced wet rice under a hereditary lord (lang) with his own law and drums.
Mường Bi is sixty miles from Thăng Long and is not governed from there (board). Mường society is documented from the nineteenth century and read backwards; the 1200 detail is inference. Tribute to Thăng Long is in cinnamon bark, wax, honey, ivory and men when the king is strong enough to ask (board).
Who holds it
- Title
- Hereditary Mường lords (lang) of the four great mường
- Confidence
- low
Later Mường tradition; board
Overlord
The king claims tribute in name.
Wealth
Terraced rice, timber, bark, wax, honey rafted from Chợ Bờ.
Places of note
- Muong Bi: Largest of the four
- Cho Bo: Rafting head
Where the sources disagree
Evidence: The campaign board entry description and a polygon built from modern districts; nothing in our sources dates the unit to 1200.
"The campaign board" is OMNIA's working map. These notes record where its earlier claims were checked against the sources.
On the map: A union of modern districts standing for the country; the real edge was not a line (a raiding belt or a day's walk of hills).
Primary sources for Tai and Muong of the north-west
Chronicles, registers, sagas and inscriptions written in or near 1200 that cover this entry. Each has its own page with editions, translations and where to read it.
- The Complete Annals of Dai Viet, Ngo Si Lien, drawing on Le Van Huu's Dai Viet su ky (1272) and Phan Phu Tien; continued by Pham Cong Tru and Le Hi (1479; printed 1697 in the standard Chinh Hoa edition). The main narrative source for Dai Viet in 1200, compiled in 1479 from Le Van Huu's lost history of 1272. Read online
- The Unofficial History of Nanzhao, Yang Shen; revised by Hu Wei (16th century, revised 1775, from Dali and Yunnan traditions and lost local histories). The kingdom of Dali has no surviving text of 1200: its own records were destroyed in the Mongol conquest and after, and the Song shi's Dali entry ends in 1175. Read online
Sources and studies
- OMNIA board notes for the Vietnam and Champa area (a lead, not a source)
Last revised 4 November 2026. Published 4 November 2026. Suggest a correction on the OMNIA Discord.